A £20,000 pledge has given a big boost to a school's hopes of achieving specialist maths and computing status.

Hurworth Comprehensive School's bid for the status would provide huge benefits to rural areas around the Darlington village.

The school is preparing a submission to the Government which it hopes will secure £440,000 of extra funding across four years.

An important part of the special school status will involve outreach work to the communities of Hurworth, Sadberge and Bishopton, which have primary feeder schools to the comprehensive.

The £20,000 pledge has been made by the Training and Enterprise Council, but the school still has a target of £50,000 to reach, which must be in place by September.

The school hopes to finalise the financial side of the bid by July, before the summer holidays.

The parent teacher association (PTA) has pledged to raise £5,000 of the remaining £30,000, with the school looking at a number of events to raise the remainder.

The PTA held a Thornton's chocolate evening last week, raising £247. A market stall in Darlington on June 14 and an auction of promises on June 28 are also planned.

Non-uniform days at the school have so far raised £341, and there are three more planned.

Pupils will be packing bags at the Morrison's store, in Neasham Road, Darlington, from 5pm to 8pm on March 15, and there will also be a sleepover.

Parents' donations totalling £250 have already come in, while businesses Peter Freitag and Castle Estates have each contributed £50. A number of other businesses have been and will be approached by the school, under the guidance of Alasdair MacConachie, chairman of the Darlington Partnership.

The school is also speaking to wealthy members of its community in the hope of attracting more individual contributions.

As part of the bid, the school also hopes to get businesses to forge links which will benefit pupils and companies through the advancement of mathematics and computing learning.